With Presidential campaign committee reports now in covering through June 30th we have a better picture of the presidential fundraising landscape. Although the increasingly important Super PACs will not file reports until July 31st, the campaign’s reports are an important indicator.

This July the first reports from 2016 presidential campaigns will be filed providing our first look at how candidates have been doing raising early money. As the information for 2015 becomes available, journalists and others my want to gain some perspective by looking at some information from the recent past.

Now available on CFI’s website are updated versions of tables covering historical statistics on campaign finance through 2014. These cover activity for full federal election cycles, in some cases dating back to 1974. Newly added this year are duplicate versions in nominal dollars and constant 2014 dollars.

The Campaign Finance Institute today is releasing its analysis of President Barack Obama’s and Gov. Mitt Romney’s fundraising through the two candidates’ post-election reports filed December 2012. The analysis strengthens the impression of an election in which the Obama campaign used fundraising as tool for money and mobilization, while for the Romney campaign it was just about money.

President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign began in August to show some of the benefits that come from his long-term strategy of cultivating and mobilizing a massive base of small donors. According to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission on September 20, the Obama campaign received almost as much from unitemized donors who gave $200 or less during the month of August ($25.1 million) as Gov. Mitt Romney’s campaign raised directly from all donors ($26.9 million. The rest of the Romney campaign’s receipts in August came in $39.2 million transferred from his joint fundraising committee and a $20 million loan.)

President Obama and Mitt Romney each raised more money in June than in previous months of 2012, according to detailed reports the campaigns filed with the Federal Election Commission on July 20. Both campaigns also increased the amount they raised from small donors. Romney’s success with small donors was new. Obama’s still greater success was a continuation of past patterns.

Mitt Romney’s fundraisers had a good fundraising month in May but (contrary to some early press accounts) Barack Obama’s did even better. Romney’s $23.4 million in receipts doubled his campaign’s $11.7 million of the previous month. But Obama’s $39.8 million was 70% higher than Romney’s

Spokespersons for the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have been talking in public about how well their candidates have been doing raising money for the general election campaign. Privately, however, they must know that the fundraising numbers for April showed each of the candidates to have vulnerabilities the campaigns will want to address quickly. In some respects, they have already begun to do so.

With the presidential nomination contests now all but formally settled, the two presumptive nominees each had their best fundraising months of the 2012 election season. The Obama campaign’s $32.3 million in primary election receipts was by far the President’s best financial haul since 2008. The month’s receipts included $7.7 million through his joint fundraising committee with the Democratic National Committee.

The presidential fundraising field showed some deep seated personality differences during February, according to the Campaign Finance Institute’s analysis
of the reports that were filed with the Federal election Commission on March 20.

Nine government watchdog organizations today asked Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich, as well as President Barack Obama, to reveal more details about fundraisers for their presidential campaigns who "bundle" contributions in amounts greatly exceeding what they're permitted to contribute on their own.

President Obama and Mitt Romney continued to lead the presidential campaign fundraising field in January 2012, despite a slowdown their fundraising pace. Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul for the first time raised almost as much as Romney, although Romney remained ahead of them in cash on hand.

President Obama campaign committee today released its monthly report to the Federal Election Commission. While there has not yet been time to analyze the report in depth, one important point can be noted from the summary page. The campaign is reporting receipts of $11.9 million during the month of January. This is about one-third the $36 million the campaign reported in January 2008.

President Barack Obama’s small donor fundraising in 2011 outpaced all of his Republican opponents combined ($56.7 million to $38.1 million). In fact, Obama’s haul from small donors (ones whose contributions aggregated to $200 or less) was more than the $56.3 million that Mitt Romney, the leading GOP fundraiser, received from all donors combined

The important role played so far by Super PACs during the Republican presidential nomination contests has been well documented and widely analyzed. This release will focus on the two leading fundraisers of 2011 – President Barack Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney. The financial fortunes of the other candidates and their related Super PACs are detailed in the tables available below.

The Republican presidential field has separated into two tiers – perhaps two and a half. Mitt Romney and Rick Perry sit clearly on top, with about $15 million each in cash on hand to take on the early primaries and caucuses. Ron Paul is in a middle range, with $8.3 million in receipts between July 1 and Sept. 30, 2011 and $3.7 million in hand. Then there is a big gap to all of the others.

On September 30, the presidential candidates of 2012 will close their financial books for the third quarter of 2011. Their official reports are not due to be filed at the Federal Election Commission until October 15, but we can be sure there will be a great deal of press coverage of whatever information the candidates choose to make available on September 30.

On Friday July 15, presidential hopefuls filed what for many was their first official campaign finance reports as candidates for the 2012 campaign season. While major story lines were reported quickly in news accounts, the Campaign Finance Institute has delayed reporting until we were able to put the filings through CFI’s standardized procedures. This lets us compare the candidates of 2012 not only with each other, but with their predecessors in 2008.

Many presidential campaigns will be giving out summaries of their fundraising receipts after the 2nd quarter closes today, even though the official disclosure reports will not be available until July 15th. Since each campaign will put the best light on its own results, we thought it useful to offer some historical information to let readers judge on their own.

An Integrated Interpretation Of National Political Party Finances, 1999-2008. This is draft of a chapter prepared for The State of the Parties, a book edited by John Green, director The Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron. The book, to be published by Rowman and Littlefield, grows out of an October 2009 conference at the Bliss Institute.